Study: Washington election system is No. 2 in United States

February 8, 2013

By Staff

NEW — 6 a.m. Feb. 8, 2013

Washington ranked No. 2 among states for election administration performance in 2010, according to a national study.

In the Elections Performance Index unveiled by the Pew Charitable Trusts on Tuesday, Washington ranked near the top after researchers examined election administration performance across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

“It’s great news that Washington is one of the very top states when it comes to the accessibility and integrity of elections and voter registration,” Secretary of State Kim Wyman, Washington’s top elections official, said in a statement. “I appreciate the hard work put into the index and how it provides an objective set of measurements to look at how we and other states are conducting elections.”

Other top-performing states include Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Using data from 17 key indicators, the index compares election administration policy and performance across the states and across election cycles. The index is based on the 2008 and 2010 elections and is scheduled to be updated once 2012 data is available.

“Washington state elections officials have diligently worked together and succeeded in creating a system that voters can be proud of,” King County Elections Director Sherril Huff said in a statement. “It’s wonderful to be recognized at a national level for the excellence in elections administration that Washington has achieved and continues to improve.”

I’m not a fan of mail-in ballots. I’d rather voters go to a polling place, show picture ID, sign-in and vote. With a mail-in ballot, you have no idea if the voter was coerced or forced to vote one way or the other.

And for those of you not concerned about these type of issues, why not just go to Internet or over-the-phone voting and be done with it? Why waste all that money on printing and mailing ballots?